Bennett: I won’t be axed from the Broncs

WAYNE Bennett is confident he will not be sacked by Brisbane bosses after he called his own press conference yesterday to declare he is staying at the NRL club.

In dramatic scenes at Red Hill yesterday, Bennett emerged from his office to announce he was digging in his heels and would not walk away from the final year of his Broncos contract in 2019.

The bombshell has rocked both Brisbane and South

Sydney officials, who have spent the past four days in talks hoping to finalise an immediate swap with Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold.

The clubs had set a deadline of 5pm yesterday and negotiators believed Bennett would agree to a swift transfer that would result in him being at Redfern on Monday.

The Broncos were so convinced Bennett would go, they had plans to unveil Seibold as their new coach at a press conference yesterday afternoon.

But Bennett kept Broncos chief Paul White and chairman Karl Morris in suspense until he fronted the media to declare: “I’m going nowhere.”

White and Morris have the option to sack Bennett, but that is unlikely given the desire to preserve his legacy at the Broncos after 25 seasons of service.

“I have been terribly consistent with my stance and nothing has changed,” Bennett said yesterday.

“I have informed the players and the staff and the CEO and the chairman that I am staying and honouring my 2019 contract, which was always my plan.”

Seibold flew to Brisbane yesterday to attend last night’s Anthony Mundine-Jeff Horn fight at Suncorp Stadium.

Brisbane planned for Seibold to hold a press conference before the fight, but Bennett’s defiant stand scuppered that.